Clincial Trials in Skin Cancer

Research - Clinical Trials

Research into new ways of treating skin cancer is going on all the time. When a new treatment is being developed, it goes through various stages of research. To begin with it will be looked at in the laboratory, and sometimes tested on cancer cells in a test tube. If the treatment seems as though it might be useful in treating cancer, it is then given to patients in research studies. These early studies are called phase 1 trials.

If early studies suggest that a new treatment may be both safe and effective, further trials (phases 2 and 3) are done to answer these questions:

Is it better than existing treatments?

Does it have extra benefit when given together with existing treatments?

How does it compare with the current best standard treatments?

You may be asked to take part in a research trial. There can be many benefits in doing this. You will be helping to improve knowledge about cancer and the development of new treatments. You will also be carefully monitored during and after the study.They aim to:

find a safe dose

see what side effects the therapy may cause

identify which cancers it might be used to treat

It is important to bear in mind that some treatments that look promising at first are often later found not to be as good as existing treatments, or to have side effects that outweigh any benefits.As part of research you may be asked by your doctors for permission to store some of the samples of your cancer or blood, so that they can be used as part of trials to find the causes of cancer.

We currently have an active research programme running at Norfolk & Norwich Skin Tumour Unit and anybody who is eligible to take part will usually be approached by the specialist or the the clinical trials nurse. If you are eligible for one of these trials and you think that we have missed you then please contact us!We also recruit patients to studies based in other units across the country. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to talk to us about being referred to one of these centres.